Month: July 2012

Advertising on mobile devices such as cell phones and tablets may not be as powerful or as effective as we are being led to believe. The Mashable website reported that only $1.6 billion was spent on mobile advertising in the entire world in 2011. That’s the figure for everywhere including Europe, the United States, China and other nations.

Even newspaper advertising revenues which are at their lowest level in 60 years were 129 times more than that spent on mobile advertising. These figures seem to indicate that the digital advertising revolution that we’ve been promised isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.

They also indicate that traditional methods of advertising such as newspapers and television still work. That means that a traditional Jacksonville Advertising Agency can still help you reach customers even with all the new technology. Many of the old methods still work and reach customers.

Newspapers in particular may not be as dead as some people think. Warren Buffett has purchased more than 60 newspapers in the last year and is looking to buy more. Buffett purchased those papers because he thinks they will still reach customers and make money.

That means you need a Jacksonville Advertising Agency that understands old style print, broadcast advertising and even the new-fangled digital methods. Your agency should be able to write an effective print ad, handle video production Jacksonville and understand Jacksonville web design.

These numbers should also serve as a warning to business owners. New technologies and mediums do no always live up to the hype surrounding them. The flashy gadgets may not actually be reaching customers. Nor may the people you need to reach actually be seeing your ads.

A good basic website is still the most cost effective digital method of reaching customers. Most people still get their digital information the ‘old fashioned way’ by sitting down at the computer and running a search. That means Jacksonville web design is more important than expertise in mobile marketing.

Newspapers, radio and television are still one of the best methods of reaching a local market. A local newspaper can put thousands of copies on the streets of your cities. A local TV station can put your video production Jacksonville into the homes of tens of thousands of local customers.

Something to remember is that much of what you see about new technologies in the media is hype designed to pump up stock values. It may not reflect the realities here in our area. A good Jacksonville Advertising Agency will understand those realities and know what works in this community.

So this week we thought I would have one of our awesome interns write this week’s blog. Take it away Sabrina…

By Sabrina Smid

Through my curiosity and luck, I stumbled upon Jacksonville advertising agency, Spark Inc.’s website one night. I was really impressed with the creativity and the results of their work and was interested in how it all came together. I decided to email if they had an internship available. Amazingly they did.

When I walked in the building for my interview, I was sold. Everyone is very determined but still open and friendly. I was blown away by the artists here. When you think Jacksonville web design or Jacksonville video production, you might not naturally think it’s going to be cutting edge. The work was so high level, I was intimidated.

Unlike most internships where you usually do admin duties with a few minor projects thrown in to get your feet wet, at Spark, if they feel you have the talent, you get to be part of the creative team. In short order, designers were taking ideas of mine and molding them from rough thoughts to polished, professional pieces. I quickly learned that, at Spark, it doesn’t just take one person. It can’t take one person. I never would have guess that it takes a collaboration of writers, designers and project managers, all guided by research to make a marketing initiative come to life. It’s an amazing fusion of art and business. Jacksonville web design and Jacksonville video production here I come.

I also had no idea how long it takes to make great work. It can take days to edit a single 30 second TV commercial. And that doesn’t account for the time needed to come up with the idea, write the script, work with the client on finalizing the script, shooting it and preparing the footage for editing.

I’ve also learned that advertising is a tough and competitive business. In this field, you fight for the best of the best ideas but everybody has different taste and much of it is subjective.

As an intern, I am learning to overcome obstacles of this field, while learning what my creative strengths and weaknesses are. Spark may be a small agency, but it’s allowing me to do what I love. I’m having my cake and eating it to…and then designing it a logo.

In recent weeks both President Obama and the presumptive Republican candidate for his job Mitt Romney have been mocked for running political ads that pander to traditional themes. Obama is positioning himself as a champion of the working man while Romney is talking about business experience. These critics seem to be missing the point and making a common mistake about advertising.

The point is this: don’t abandon what works in favor of something new. Yes the traditional messages that Obama and Romney are concentrating on are old but they work. Their success if proven and that’s something that everybody thinking about hiring a Jacksonville advertising agency needs to ponder.

You need to ask yourself is it necessary to reinvent the wheel by changing your message, theme or slogan when you look into a new advertising medium such as Jacksonville web design. Perhaps the message you’ve been using on print advertisements or TV ads will work just fine when you move into a news medium such as social media.

After all people are basically the same even the gadgets they play with have changed. People still respond to the same basic messages and slogans despite all the technological progress. An experienced Jacksonville advertising agency will understand that and incorporate it into its Jacksonville web design.

In many cases what a business needs from a Jacksonville advertising agency is not a new message or slogan. Instead it might need better video production Jacksonville or better Jacksonville web design to get its message out. Or the business may simply need to tap new mediums such as Twitter.

As Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama’s experience demonstrate there could be nothing wrong with the basic message. The problem could be in the way it is delivered or the medium used. Your customers may still want to save money with your product but they may not be seeing the video production Jacksonville you spent a lot of money on because they aren’t watching broadcast TV anymore. You might need to switch to another medium such as streaming video to reach them.

The bottom line is that you may not need to change your basic message. Instead you may need to use other messages or improve your video production Jacksonville.

Awesome Commercial!

There’s an important question you need to ask when you launch a marketing campaign it is who will see my advertisements? You need to ask that question because evidence indicates that a lot of the people that see new promotions on venues such as social media may not even be real.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) recently looked into the results from Facebook ads and what they found should be a wake-up call for all businesses. The TV network created a fake company called Virtual Bagel and set up a Facebook page for it. The reporters then had a social media marketing consulting company look at the results and they found that almost all of the people who “liked” Virtual Bagel were suspicious. Virtual Bagel was based in London but most of its fans were in Egypt and the Philippines.

To make matters worse many of the fans stated that they liked up to 5,000 pages. Obviously something is very fishy here: because there’s no way that one person could “like” up to 5,000 pages at once. These results indicate that money spent on social media advertisements could be wasted if you don’t use a professional resource such as an experienced Jacksonville advertising agency.

These results also indicate that many business owners that think they are saving money by not using a Jacksonville advertising agency are throwing their cash away. Resources such as Facebook pages and Jacksonville web design can only be successful if they are marketed to real people. You need to be certain that your advertisements are reaching real people that will spend real money at your business.

All of the money that you are spending on social media, Jacksonville web design and video production in Jacksonville could be wasted. Is anyone actually be seeing the expensive video production Jacksonville that you paid for. This means that you need to ask the important question: who will see my Jacksonville web design? You need to verify that your promotion will be seen by actual human beings that might want to do business with you.

The best way to do this is to hire an experienced Jacksonville advertising agency with video production capacity and social media savvy. Simply being able to create an advertisement is not enough you need to be able to verify that potential customers are actually seeing the commercial. If not your video production Jacksonville will be a waste of time and money.

Advertising just isn’t what it used to be. The days when your choices of a medium were limited to newspaper, TV and radio are long gone. Today you have countless venues for getting your message out available including social media, email, Twitter, Facebook, and numerous other digital choices. That is why many companies use a Jacksonville web design service, a Jacksonville advertising agency and a video production service in Jacksonville.

Spark Inc. can help you determine which mediums are best for you. A study by the consulting firm GazeHawk found that people who use a social media news service called Reddit automatically and unconsciously filter out advertisements posted there. Those people simply see what they want and ignore everything else.

Rich Bergsund CEO of Wine.com bluntly told Reuters that online display ads simply don’t work. The prices of online displays have fallen by about half since 2007 which is a sure indication that they don’t work. So you might be wondering which advertisements work and which don’t? Mr. Bergsund’s complaint shows you why you need Jacksonville web design.

The best way to determine that is to turn to the professionals at an experienced Jacksonville advertising agency and video production Jacksonville. The pros follow the business and keep up with the trends so they understand what will work and what will not. They may not have all the answers but they will know more than you do.

The truth is that some online display advertisements do work but others do not which is why an experienced Jacksonville advertising agency could help you. So there is no real guarantee in advertising. The falling price of this kind of advertising actually makes it more appropriate for a lot of entrepreneurs including many small businesses.

One of the best things about today’s ad market is that is actually cheaper and easier to advertise than ever before. A business can now reach far larger numbers of potential customers at a very low price. If it takes advantage of video production Jacksonville to create content for its site it can reach almost as many people as a far more expensive television ad campaign. Not to mention once the video is complete you can have it posted to YouTube or your website and receive hundreds or even thousands of views for free!

Yet it must be able to produce professional looking promotions so a good Jacksonville web design service is a must. The best web designer to hire is one that is obviously familiar with the local ad market. So it is best to hire a company that combines the services of an agency and a web designer.

Yet website design isn’t the only thing you need nowadays. Most web surfers now expect sites to have videos. A good YouTube video is now one of the best ways to promote a product online. So you should look for somebody with experience in video production in Jacksonville as well.

Obviously there’s no guarantee that any sort of promotion will work but there’s no guarantee it won’t. Today’s advertising market is now so complex that even small businesses need professional help to navigate it. Fortunately that help is easier to find than ever before.

P.F. Chan’s is going to make cop suey out of its competition if it keeps this up. The Wall Street Journal reported that over one million people responded to a $25,000 targeted advertising campaign on Twitter for the well known restaurant chain.  Even for a company that specializes in video production in Jacksonville and Jacksonville web design, we feel it’s worth noting.
P.F. Chang was able to reach over one million potential customers without paying any traditional media source.  Twitter has been working well for several companies hoping to quickly and cost-effectively get the word out about special promotions.

 
Of course, anyone can Tweet.  It’s what you say and how you say it the will determine the reaction you receive.  That’s why you need an experienced Jacksonville advertising agency to help guide you.  Remember, Twitter can often just be a hook that gets potential customers to read more information or watch a video.  That is why you need to utilize the services of an experienced team offering video production Jacksonville trusts and a Jacksonville web design team you’ll love, too . Customers are getting more sophisticated all the time. In fact, many customers now expect advertisements high end content such as videos and professional photography when acting on a tweet.  This also poses an interesting dilemma for sites such as Twitter and Facebook.   If advertisers are able to get such great results for free, why would they pay a site to advertise and possibly get significantly lower results?

 
As a Jacksonville advertising agency, we’re now using Twitter for clients all over the US.   Unlike when we have to get local media rates for a client in Fresno and do it again for a client in Rochester, with Twitter, we can just get to work.  It’s free and easy to implement once you have a strategy in place.  Whether you need us to conceive and manage a social media plan or need us for Jacksonville web design or video production Jacksonville.  We work with clients all over the country though.  So be sure to give us a call.